Rejecting the 'fuss' created by 'some countries' over its nuclear tests, North Korea has criticised the big nations for, what it called, their attitude that only they can have nuclear weapons.

"It is a gangster-like logic that only big countries could possess nuclear weapons and threaten small countries with them," North Korean representative Pak Gil Yon told a United Nations Committee.

Such double standards, he asserted, have reduced the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and other disarmament conventions to 'dead documents' without any binding force.

He rejected the 'fuss' created by 'some countries' and their demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons programme, and said it had manufactured 'up-to-date nuclear weapons', after going through a 'legitimate, transparent process' to deal with the United States' escalation of the threat of nuclear war and sanctions.

The extreme threat of nuclear war from the United States, the North Korean diplomat said, had 'compelled' his country to conduct the test, an 'essential step' for nuclear deterrence and a measure for defence.

But his country would never use nuclear weapons first or allow their transfer to any other country.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea would always sincerely implement its international commitment to non-proliferation, as a responsible nuclear weapon state. It would do its utmost to denuclearise the peninsula and give impetus to world disarmament and the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons," he said.

Pakistan sounded strong criticism of major powers even as the 15-member Security Council was discussing tough sanctions on North Korea in response to nuclear weapons test conducted by it in defiance of the council resolution.

He said the ultimate goal of his North Korea was the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula but it had been 'compelled' to possess a nuclear deterrent for self-defence after the United States had threatened his country with nuclear weapons and 'designated it as a target for pre-emptive attack'.

It is also the reality today that missile launch or nuclear test is tolerated if it is US approved and the issue is not brought to the UN, he said.

It is clear, he said, that people without a reliable war deterrent were bound to meet a tragic death and have their 'sovereignty wantonly infringed upon'.

That is a bitter lesson taught from the 'law of the jungle' in different parts of the world, he told the committee. His country's nuclear weapons, he said, would serve as a reliable war deterrent, protecting the 'supreme interests' of his atate and its security from threats by the United States, while averting a new war and ensuring peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.